When The Stars Have All Gone Out
by x.windance
Summary: My name is Coraline,and I have a crush on Sirius Black,in spite of my most valiant efforts.You could call it a love/hate relationship ... but you know what they say; once you go Black, you can't go back ... R&R please!
1. Chapter One

**A/N: New story! I'm liking it so far … I'm going to do my best to make it unique; there's so many awesome SiriusOCs out there that it might not be amazingly original, but I still hope you like it. **

**I do not own Harry Potter, or anything that you might recognize. I do own Coraline Kavanagh. I like her a lot. **

**If you have any interest, I have a link in my profile, showing a picture of what I picture Lily looking like, and another of what I picture Coraline as. **

**Anyway, I hope you like this first chapter … I'm not sure if all my chapters will be this long! **

**Please review. I'd love to hear your thoughts and critique. **

Chapter One

It was September the first, which meant two things; a) it was my first day back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after summer break, and b) I had been awake at dawn to pack my trunk and was currently storming about the house in a considerable state of panic. After four previous September the firsts that had turned out to be a horrifying experience, one would think I would have developed the foresight to pack well in advance, but no. No, definitely not. That would be much too easy.

My first year at Hogwarts, September the first had gone impeccably smooth; I had been packed days and days in advance, had been able to eat a hearty breakfast before leaving for platform 9 ¾ , and my mum had even trimmed by bangs for me. A leisurely, peaceful morning, one that I was sure would never be repeated.

"Mum!" I screamed, "Have you seen my Advanced Potions book?" I was on my knees, peering under my bed. There were several Muggle books under there, notebooks that I doodled in and maybe a pair of old underwear and/or socks, but no Advanced Potion-Making. Dammit. Of course, it would have to be the hardest thing to find; it was the one book I was missing from the haphazard pile of them in my trunk.

"Is it in your trunk?" Mum called back.

"No!"

"Under your bed?"

"No!"

"Nightstand?"

I hastily jerked open the drawer. "No!"

"Cupboard?"

I rifled through it, pulling clothes off of hangers, plunging my hands into pockets, destroying the neat little arrangement of boxes and books on the shelf, but – "No!"

"Well, then, I don't know, Coraline! What did you do with it?"

_If I knew that, it wouldn't be lost, would it? _I made a noise in my throat like an angry cat, and bent over my trunk. _All right,_ I thought to myself, _forget about the book. Make sure you have everything else. _I glanced at the time; I had just under half an hour before we had to leave. I ensured I had everything else I needed in my trunk, and even made a half-hearted attempt to neaten it up before resuming my search for the stupid Potions book. I checked everywhere in my room, then checked my little sister's room, then the kitchen, the sitting room and finally, with just ten minutes to spare, found it nestled in the dog bed by the sofa, with some tell-tale chew marks that made me very keen on hunting down my mum's new puppy and –

"Oh, good," Mum said, interrupting my internal rant, carrying said devil-spawn puppy in her arms, "you found it."

I narrowed my eyes at the dog, a runty Siberian Husky with creepy bright blue eyes set in his stupid black face. "Look at what your dumb dog did!" I waved the book in my mum's face, displaying the chewed corners and ragged edges of the pages. The dog – his name was Merlin – wagged his tail and attempted to lick my elbow. I flicked his nose.

"Hey!" Mum cried, indignant, "It's not his fault you leave your stuff laying around."

"He probably stole it from my room! Like he did with my Dracula! And my History of Magic! And my Wuthering Heights! And my Ghost Stories of an Antiquary! _And_ my Alice in Wonderland!"

"And I already replaced them, didn't I?" Mum said snappishly.

"Yes," I grumbled, glaring at Merlin. "I don't want him in my room when I'm gone; I'm sure he'll tear apart my Lord of the Rings next."

"Close your door then," Mum said, her mouth pressed into a firm white line.

"I don't want Sabelle in my room, either," I said, following her out of the sitting room into the corridor. Sabelle was my little sister, nine years younger than I, and spent most of her time snooping in my room. She also insisted on stealing my books, even though she wasn't old enough to understand them.

"I'll do my best, Coraline," Mum said, sounding tired, "I do have other things on my mind." I nodded, worrying my lower lip between my teeth. My dad was ill and in St. Mungo's, and had been for three months already. It was all the Healer's could do just to stabilize his condition; no one knew what was wrong with him. On top of this, my mum was five months pregnant, and the Healers feared that the baby might be infected with whatever it was that was plaguing my dad.

The doorbell rang, and my mum immediately had to cinch her arms around Merlin, who was barking madly and attempting to wriggle free. I skipped to the door and found my best friend, Lily, standing there dressed in blue jeans and a nice green jumper that brought out her eyes. The sun of the summer had given her a nice golden glow, and a few more freckles across her nose and cheekbones. Her thick red hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she grinned when I opened the door.

"Hey, Corrie," she said, stepping forward into my hug.

"Lily!" I squealed. "I'm so happy to see you!" I pulled her into the house by her arm, and as the door closed behind her, mum set Merlin down and he sprinted for Lily, jumping around her legs. "I'll be right back, Lil," I said, bounding up the steps. I tossed Advanced Potion-Making into my trunk, and slammed the lid down, listening to mum ask Lily about her summer.

"It was alright," Lily said, "we went to Switzerland for two weeks, but I'm not much of a skier."

Mum laughed, "No, I never was either."

Dragging my trunk down the stairs (I can't wait until I'm legally allowed to use magic ... only five more months until my birthday!), their conversation was drowned out, but as I turned into the corridor, Lily was saying, "That would be much more fun, I'm sure."

"Would you hurry up, Coraline?" Mum said, "Mr. and Mrs. Evans are waiting."

"I know, I know," I said apologetically, "I just have to find Lucy." Lucy was my cat, and even though she was getting on in age, I couldn't leave her behind.

"Check the tree house," Mum said, but I was already on my way; she'd taken to hanging out in the cool shady tree house during the day, and sure enough, she was there, sleeping on her bed in the corner.

"Lucy," I crooned, crawling over to her, and she opened her bright aquamarine eyes lazily, switching her fluffy gray tail. "Come on Lucy, it's time to go." I gathered her gently in my arms, and she mewed softly in my ear. She had lost a bit of weight in the last week or so; I made a mental note to order some different food for her from the Magical Menagerie.

Lily offered to take her from me while I wrestled with my trunk, and preceded me out of the house. "Bye, Mum," I said, squeezing her tightly. Pulling back, I noticed she had tears in her eyes. "Mummy," I whispered, "Don't cry."

"I'm going to miss you, Cora," she said, tucking a stray curl behind my ear. "Take care of yourself."

"I'm going to miss you too, Mum. I'll write every week, I promise."

She hugged my head to her chest again; my mum was head and shoulders taller than me, and my dad was another head taller than her. I don't know why, but I apparently got the short end of the stick – literally. I was short – just under five feet, and slim. I looked barely thirteen, and I was going to be seventeen in a few months!

Mum and I exchanged our "I love you"s and I heaved my trunk through the door, down the walk and into the back of Mr. and Mrs. Evans' minivan before hopping into the back seat beside Lily.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Evans!" I said cheerfully, and Lily's parents turned in their seats to beam at me.

"Hello, Coraline," Mrs. Evans said, brushing her dark reddish-brown hair away from her face. "Enjoy your summer?"

I nodded, "It was alright; the week I spent at your house was the best part though." My thoughts instantly drifted to the seemingly endless days spent visiting my Dad at St. Mungo's, and to the melancholy visit my Grandparents paid. No, I would definitely prefer spending time at Lily's, even with her sour sister, Petunia and her revolting boyfriend, Vernon around.

"Maybe you should come to France with us next summer, then, Coraline," Mr. Evans said.

I gave a groan of longing, "Don't tease me, Mr. Evans, you know I'd love to go to France."

Mr. Evans chuckled, and Lily grabbed my arm, her pink frosted fingernails digging into my flesh, "Please come, _please_? It would be so amazing if you came!"

"Wait and see Lily," Mr. Evans said, "It's a whole year away, yet."

We were on the freeway now, and Mr. Evans turned up the radio, singing softly to some jazz while Lily and I talked quietly in the back.

"Where's Petunia?" I queried, and Lily smirked.

"At home, with _Vernon_," she made a gagging noise, and I sniggered. "I can't wait until she marries him and moves away."

My eyebrows shot up towards my hairline. "They're _engaged_?" I asked incredulously, "_Already_? They've only been going out, what, nine months?"

Lily nodded ruefully. "Ten, actually," she corrected me. "But Petunia insists that he's _the one_, whatever that means. He asked her while we were in Switzerland."

"The only one that could stand to look at her," I muttered.

"Hey!" Lily said, an extremely fake look of outrage on her face as she punched my shoulder, "That's my sister you're talking about."

"But she's not old enough to get married, yet, is she?"

Lily shook her head, her thick red ponytail sweeping her shoulders. "Not yet, but she'll be eighteen in February, and then they're planning on getting married in the summer."

"Wow," I said, "That's so _weird._ I pictured you married before _her_." I wrinkled my nose and grimaced. I didn't like Petunia very much – she was not a nice person; constantly sneering at Lily and I, staring down her nose at us as though she were so much better than us, whispering and hissing behind our backs. And Vernon was just as bad; a large, rotund man with a skinny little mustache and beady little eyes … he reminded me of a grossly overfed rat. I mean, one of those rats that is like, the king of the rats and sits on his big fat arse in the sewer and waits for all of the other poor little rats to do everything for him … He acted like that, too, though, of course, not in front of Mr. and Mrs. Evans. _They_ thought he was wonderful … "so _polite_, and dotes on Petunia". On second thought, I guess he and Petunia would be perfect for each other.

Lily chuckled, stroking Lucy's long gray coat. "I'm not _quite _as desperate as Petunia."

I laughed. "Thank Merlin for _that_, or else you'd already be with James."

Lily looked perfectly horrified. I loved teasing Lily about James Potter, who fancied her to the moon and back, and, I suspected, the sentiment was not entirely one-sided. Lily might rant and rage at the poor boy that fawned over her as though she was the last source of fresh water in the whole wide world, but deep, _very_ deep down I think she secretly hoped that during one of these tempers, James would simply grab her by the shoulders and kiss her passionately. Yes, I _do_ read romance novels, and what's more, I enjoy them!

Lily pursed her mouth, and shook her head at me, as I continued to smile mischievously at her. She knew of my suspicions, had told me I should see Madam Pomfrey at once, since there was clearly something wrong with my head, but had, at the most random moments, turned to me and hissed, "I can't believe you actually think I _fancy_ him!" which made me think that she was trying as hard to convince herself as she was me.

"Poor Lily," I said, in a singsong voice, "Denial doesn't suit you, you know. The truth shall set you free!"

Lily growled at me and punched my shoulder again, but she was smiling.

We drove in silence for a bit; the country side rolled in green waves past us, dotted here and there with handsome horses and dairy cows munching grass, completely unfazed by our passing. I loved to look at the little farmhouses, and the winding roads that led to stately manors, wondering about the people who lived there. One home in particular was my favorite, and I looked out for it every trip to London; a beautiful Victorian era manor, painted yellow and white with a wrap-around porch, cuddled on its west side by tall, handsome oaks, rich green fields and bright heather surrounding it, horses in the pasture and a lovely, sparkling lake to the east of the house. I sighed, pressing my face to the glass, imagining what my life would be like if I lived in that house. I would be taller, that I knew for certain.

As we entered London, Lily leaned towards me, touching my hand, and asked quietly about my dad.

"Oh," I said, shrugging, "he's no better … but he's no worse, either, so I suppose that's good."

"They still don't know what's wrong with him?"

I shook my head. "All they've been able to do so far is find out what it's _not_."

"Well, at least they've narrowed it down," Lily said in a reassuring way.

I nodded. "There is that," I said, a little bitterly.

"And your mum? How is she?"

"As good as you could expect, I suppose." In truth, she cried a lot and flew into completely unexpected rages at the drop of a hat, but I suspected this was because her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. I was really quite proud of her … a person with less strength than she would have murdered someone by now, or at the very least have pulled out all of their hair. As it so happens, my mum has a beautiful head of thick, wavy, golden blonde hair which appears to be completely unaffected by her unusually high stress level.

Lily nodded, her bright green eyes downcast. "I really hope everything works out," she said, and I smiled, albeit half-heartedly.

"Me too," I said.

Silence again, but this time, one that I desperately wanted to be rid of; I didn't want to think of my dad. How very selfish of me. So, I said, "You've heard nothing from Severus?"

Lily's mouth instantly tightened and she paled a shade or two. I was instantly sorry to have mentioned it, and vowed not to do so again. "Not since that one letter." Early in the summer, one of the first few days I had been over at her house, Lily had received a letter from her ex-other-best-friend, Severus Snape, who, at the end of last year had had the gall to call her a _Mudblood_, if you can believe it. Personally, I was glad to be rid of him; he and I had never really gotten along, but I knew that Lily was really torn up about it. In the letter, Severus had been all kinds of apologetic, saying how much he missed her etc. etc., but Lily did not respond. I had wanted to write him a scathing letter, but Lily wouldn't let me do that, either. "I don't want to speak to him again," she had said.

"Oh." I didn't say anything else on the subject.

We arrived at King's Cross Station with just under twenty minutes to spare; we were quick to grab trolleys and pass through the barrier between platforms nine and ten onto platform 9 ¾ so that we could spend the remaining time bidding farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Evans.

"Thank you so much, Mr. and Mrs. Evans," I said, smoothing my flyaway curls back into my bun.

"You're very welcome, Coraline," Mrs. Evans said, hugging me somewhat awkwardly over Lucy.

"We're always happy to see you," Mr. Evans said, also hugging me.

I grinned, and stepped back, allowing Lily some space to say goodbye to her parents. They hugged her, told her to be good, write to them often ("And that goes for you, too, Coraline!") and to keep up with her studies. They really needn't have reminded her; Lily was perfect.

"Have a great year, girls!" Mrs. Evans called after us as we boarded the train, and we waved back at them until they turned and disappeared through the barrier.

"I'll go find a compartment," I said, pushing Lucy onto my shoulder.

"Alright," Lily said, "I have prefect duties for a bit, but I'll meet you as soon as I can."

I groaned, stamping my foot. "Stupid prefect duties."

Lily nodded, sighing heavily. "I know, right?"

"Fine," I grumbled. "Ditch me …"

Lily grinned, and, heaving her trunk along behind her, made her way to the front of the train to the prefect's compartment. I went the opposite way, slipping past people loitering in the hallway with a growing frustration until I found an empty compartment near the very back of the train. I didn't even bother attempting to hoist my trunk into the overhead storage; my trunk was far too heavy, and I couldn't reach it anyway. I pushed it over, and it fell with a dull thump onto the floor, much like the sound the door to the compartment made when I slammed it shut. I put Lucy down on the seat, before flopping down beside her, and opened my trunk carefully, lest its contents spill out everywhere.

_Should I read, or should I sleep_? I asked myself. _Sleep, definitely. _I pulled out my favorite stuffed toy – a well-loved dog with rough hair and a chunk missing from his ear that I somehow had not discovered how to sleep without – and wrapped him in a particularly large jumper, creating a makeshift pillow for myself. I placed the pillow on the seat, and laid down, not caring that I took up the whole seat; I didn't want anyone joining me unless it was Lily. Lucy meowed irritably and jumped off the seat when I tried to cuddle her into my abdomen.

"Fine then," I said, as she took up residence in the corner of the seat across from me, staring at me disapprovingly with narrowed eyes. I stuck my tongue out at her before closing my eyes with a contented sigh. _So quiet …_

I was just about to doze off when I heard the compartment door slide open, and reluctantly, I opened my eyes to see who it was. James Potter stood there, and he smiled at me. "Hi, Coraline," he said.

"Oh, hi James," I said, sitting up.

"Good summer?"

I nodded. "Yep. And you?"

"Great." Silence. And not the good kind. Thankfully, James broke it after a few awkward moments. "So … how did you do on your OWLs?"

He was sitting down, much to my chagrin. I wished that he would just go away; Cliodna forbid his little gang joined him in my compartment.

"I did really well, actually. How about you?"

"I got all of the requirements to become an Auror," he said proudly.

"Good for you," I said, watching as Lucy climbed into James's lap, regarding me coolly as if to say, "I like him better than you." Stupid cat. Smiling, he stroked her fur, slouching in the seat. His black hair was longer, though still terribly messy. It would never look as gorgeous as Sirius Black's did, falling into his fathomless gray eyes with a sort of casual elegance that many girls could never hope to achieve, but I had to admit that James Potter was quite a looker.

He looked up at me, eyebrows raised, surprised to catch me staring at him. I blushed and looked quickly away. "So, um …" he said, clearing his throat and groping for some topic of conversation. "What are your plans for after graduation?"

"I'd like to be either a Curse-Breaker with Gringotts or work in the Department of Mysteries," I replied, and again he looked surprised. "What's that look for?" I asked, but he shook his head. "What?" I pressed.

"Nothing, I just expected you to be a Professor or something…" he shrugged, grinning sheepishly.

I chuckled. "Why?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know…you're a really good tutor, so I thought you'd make a good Professor."

"Oh," I said, and I was just about to thank him when the compartment door slid open.

"There you are, Prongs!" and in strode James's partner-in-crime, Sirius Black. Tall, dark, and handsome Sirius Black with the stormy gray eyes, wavy black hair that fell just past his jaw, the roguish grin and chiseled features … Sirius Black with the full lips and eyelashes to die for, and the cocky swagger and devil-may-care attitude … oh, and Peter Pettigrew lurking behind him, as he leaned casually/provocatively against the wall. "We were wondering where you'd gotten to."

I looked quickly away when he entered; I was not his biggest fan, despite the fact that I harbored a stupid, clandestine crush on the boy. Lily knew, but I'd threatened to spread illicit rumors about her and James Potter should the secret get out. Coming from her best friend, people might just believe it.

My crush had begun in second year; I remember that he'd started playing Quidditch that year, and he was about to play in his first game, and I had run into him on an extremely rare occasion; a time when Sirius Black was feeling vulnerable and insecure. I had been on my way to the match with Mary, but it was a good deal colder outside than I had anticipated, and I went back to the Common Room to fetch my coat. Sirius had been there, huddled in one of the arm chairs, looking pale and scared. I'd asked him what was wrong, and he's burst out that he was no good at Quidditch and he had no idea why they'd let him on the team, and he was going to blow this match for everyone; they'd lose and it'd be all his fault.

I'd been quick to reassure him, telling him that that was ridiculous, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team wouldn't have let him on if he wasn't the best, and they were lucky to have him; that if he didn't play they would surely lose.

And then I'd walked down to the Quidditch pitch with him, assured him that he'd be brilliant, and he'd smiled at me and said, "Thanks so much, Coraline." And then he had kissed my cheek. And after that, my sanity where it came to Sirius Black was hopelessly lost.

Unfortunately, after that, he had promptly forgotten my name and when he wasn't teasing me about one of numerous things he'd found amusing about me (such as my height, or lack thereof; my reading glasses; the braces I'd had until fourth year; or when he'd turned my hair green with a water-balloon filled with ink; he's called me "Little Gherkin" ever since), he completely ignored me. Obviously, I wasn't the only person in Hogwarts that he tormented, but honestly, I wasn't thinking of them at the time.

And then, in fifth year, Sirius and James decided that they wanted to be Aurors, and that to become an Auror, they needed Potions, which just happened to be one of their worst subjects and one of my very best. Since Lily and I were already working with Remus Lupin, the fourth Marauder – a very nice and somewhat peculiar boy, James and Sirius simply assumed that they could join our study group. Lily refused to assist James and Sirius, but I did not have the willpower to do so. Growing a backbone was on my list of things to accomplish this year.

Sirius settled himself in the seat beside me, and I snatched my stuffed dog away from him. Thankfully, he didn't comment. "Good summer, Gherkin?" he asked offhandedly. Sirius had, in fact, learned my real name last year, but he still insisted on calling me by that stupid pet-name.

"Yep," I grunted, still not looking at him, "And you?"

"Great."

_Dear Merlin, Lily, please come and rescue me._


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Lily did not rescue me until about an hour later. I could feel the minutes tick by like there was a clock in my head. I was acutely aware the entire time that _Sirius Black_ was sitting right beside me and he smelled simply divine. I mean, come on … _Sirius Black_ … No, no, I hated him. He tortured me … made my first four years of school at Hogwarts hell. No. It simply would not do for my crush to continue. I must put a decisive end to it; no more pining, no more secret hopes. I glanced over at him. He was grinning as he joked with James … hmm...maybe tomorrow.

I attempted to focus on my book, _Through the Looking Glass_, but must have read the same page twenty times or more; _"The way Dinah washed her children's faces was this … and just now, as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten … But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in the afternoon …"_ And when I got to the part where Alice is chastising the poor little black kitten, I realized I hadn't absorbed one word of the story leading up to that, and was forced to go back.

I was just hiding behind the book so I had a better excuse not to look at him other than gazing out of the window. After a while, I gave up concentrating, and began turning pages at random intervals to make it look like convincing. At one point, Sirius actually leaned over – leaned _on_ me, really – and asked me what I was reading.

I showed him the cover. He mouthed the title and shrugged, straightening. "I've never heard of it."

"It's a Muggle book," I informed him curtly.

"Any good?"

I nodded, smoothing a stray curl behind my ear. He was looking at me strangely. Was there something on my face? I worried my lower lip in my paranoia, and he smirked at me, resuming his conversation with James.

I ducked behind my book again, and hastily wiped my face and smoothed my hair. Nothing appeared amiss, but I couldn't be sure. A few more times, Sirius and James attempted to engage me in conversation, but if there was one thing I was good at, it was ending a conversation. Short, uninteresting answers are the best.

Finally, the compartment door slid open, and Lily stood there, her emerald eyes sweeping the cabin. She appeared not even to acknowledge the boys, but found me immediately. Noting my expression, which I'm sure was nothing less than desperate; she was quick to settle herself between Sirius and me. Remus Lupin, a tall, thin and somewhat bedraggled boy, trailed in after her, but did not have time to sit down. "Moony!" Sirius cried, as James flushed a deep scarlet at the sight of Lily. Generally, he beamed at her, but now, he was glowering. Was he still sore about what Lily had said to him at the end of last year?

"Come on, guys," he said, gruffly, standing up and making quite a show of smoothing his jeans and jumper, "Let's go find the trolley." He gave me a fleeting smile before he darted out of the cabin, but did not look at Lily. Yes … evidently, he _was_ still sore. The Marauders followed him out of the cabin, with "See you"s to Lily and I, and when the compartment door shut with a snap, Lily turned to me, gaping.

"What was _that_?" she demanded.

I shrugged, eyes wide. "I've no idea. Maybe you hurt his feelings, with what you said last year."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "That's ridiculous, Coraline. It was nothing he hasn't heard before."

I shrugged again. "He was just trying to defend you, Lil…I don't know; I thought it was kind of sweet…"

"He's not some sort of Knight in Shining Armor, Corrie. He's a pompous git."

I swiftly changed the subject. I was in no mood to listen to Lily rant and rave about how much she hated the fact that James Potter, a handsome, clever and mostly sweet boy, was in love with her. She didn't seem to realize that some people (like me) would actually enjoy having someone like James Potter (or Sirius Black) pining after them.

"How was your meeting?" I asked her, opening my arms to graciously accept my traitorous Lucy back into my arms.

"Oh, _awesome_," she said, rolling her eyes. "They've made a bunch of really annoying fifth years prefects. We were that annoying as fifth years?"

"Definitely not." We probably were. Especially with some of Lily and James's extremely vocal spats in the common room … or the Great Hall … or most of the hallways …

"Good." She groaned. "They're terrible, honestly; screeching and giggling the whole time." There was silence for a moment, and then she said, "I forgot to ask you; how did you do on your OWLs?"

I folded my lips in, and then shrugged. "I did well."

"Well, show me," she urged, and I climbed up onto the seat, and opened my trunk as far as the ceiling of the carriage would allow. It took me a few minutes to find the letter from Hogwarts I had gotten at the beginning of August, informing me of my grades in the OWL exams, because of my haphazard packing. When I finally found it, I flopped back down, bouncing in the seat. Lily had also pulled hers out (was she carrying it around in a pocket?), and held hers adjacent to mine.

I scanned my grades proudly again, listing them off to Lily. "I got O's in History of Magic, Arithmancy, Potions and Charms, E's in Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Ancient Runes, A's in Divination and Astronomy." Lily had gotten O's in everything (we had had the same exact schedule last year) except for Ancient Runes, Divination and History of Magic, in which she got E's, which meant that my History of Magic grade had beaten Lily's! I almost whooped out loud, but then it occurred to me that that might be a little insensitive. She was probably upset about all three of those E's, even though Divination was rubbish and Ancient Runes and History of Magic weren't the most interesting of subjects, and E was still a very respectable grade.

"So, are you continuing in everything, or …"

I shook my head. "Professor Wentz and Professor Lorray both want E's."

Lily shrugged. "Oh, yeah. Well, you don't need those, anyway."

"True." Neither of those subjects were requirements for becoming a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts or working in the Department of Mysteries. I supposed that Astronomy might come in useful if I were ever to get lost, but what was magic for, anyway, if it couldn't be used to get me out of trouble?

"Are you continuing with everything?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I've had enough of Divination. Crock of shit, honestly. And I'm debating dropping History of Magic or Astrology."

I was horrified at the idea of anyone dropping History of Magic; it was my favorite subject, but I realized that most people were definitely not on my side. Professor Binns had a knack for making a fascinating subject dreadfully boring. Luckily, my imagination could overrule Professor Binns' ghastly droning any time.

"I would drop Astrology, if I were you," I told her, and not only because I was selfish and didn't want to lose Lily in History of Magic, my seating and study partner in every subject for the past five years, "It's rather close to Divination, if you think about it."

Lily pursed her lips and nodded slowly, eyebrows contracted. "That's true." She shrugged. "I don't know; I'll give it some thought before classes on Monday." September the first landed on a Friday this year, which meant that we had an entirely free weekend before classes began.

Eventually, the trolley came by, and Lily and I bought a mound of sweets each, examined and traded Chocolate Frog Cards, and finally, we reclined in our seats, stuffed with sugar and me feeling rather queasy.

"I really shouldn't have eaten that last Pumpkin Pasty," I groaned, and Lily giggled, and then hiccoughed, which made me giggle, and then moan; my stomach was clearly in no mood for giggling.

We talked of nothing of importance until Remus poked his head in on us an hour or so later. Lily groaned; "Is it that time already?"

"I'm afraid so," he said with a sigh. Lily quickly helped me clear off the seat of our rubbish from the sweets, and Remus grinned at me when I glanced up at him. He looked much more appealing, and his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled.

"I'll be back," Lily told me, and I smiled and waved her off. Really, her doing rounds meant I could finally take my nap.

Unfortunately, just as I was settling down on the seat again with my stuffed dog, Shadow as my pillow, three girls filed into the compartment; Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald and Alice Russell; mine and Lily's roommates in our Hogwarts Dormitory. There were three other Gryffindor girls in our year, Ardis Moyer, Barbara Schultz and Cassandra Hawkins (I liked to call them The ABC, as if they were some sort of three-headed monster), but Lily and I were lucky enough to have been placed with Marlene, Mary and Alice.

Marlene was a very tall girl, with a body that belied her young age. She should have been a model, but her life's ambition was to sit on the Wizengamot, like her Father and her Mother. I had no idea how one went about getting placed on the Wizengamot, but Marlene was convinced she had it all figured out. Her dark reddish-brown hair was wavy, just down to her shoulders, and she had stunning blue eyes and a radiant smile. The thing I didn't like about Marlene was that she was a pureblood, and was very, very proud of that fact. Not quite Slytherin/Death Eater proud, but she seemed to enjoy reinforcing everyone's knowledge of her family's deep-rooted power and wealth.

Alice was also a pureblood, but she was very down-to-earth. In fact, if you weren't close to Alice, you might never know she was a pureblood. She was quiet and unobtrusive, but fiercely loyal and very talented. She and Lily had that in common; they didn't have to try quite as hard as everyone else to get the grades that they did. She was short, but still a little taller than I was, with smooth dark blonde hair cropped into a cute little bob just below her ears, framing her round, rosy face perfectly. Her golden-brown eyes were large, bright and kind; quintessential puppy eyes. She wanted to be an Auror, like her Father.

Mary was a Muggle-born witch with dark brown hair that was very curly, and gray-green eyes, almost the exact color of sage. She had a soft, pretty face and was of average height. She was studious and shy – mostly because of the attack she had suffered last year at the hands of that terrible Slytherin Mulciber (he used the Cruciatus Curse on her, and then the Imperious Curse, attempting to force her to drown herself in the lake; he was stopped by Professor Dumbledore and subsequently expelled … I don't think You-Know-Who cares much if one of his Death Eaters has graduated, though). She had spent two weeks in the Hospital Wing, but refused to go home and hide, as she put it. I thought she was very brave for staying. She was rather traumatized by the experience though, not that anyone blamed her, and she was constantly looking over her shoulder.

"Coraline!" she called, and even though I desperately wanted to sleep, I was pleased to see the three of them. I sat up as she crowed, "Rise and shine!" Grinning at me, she plopped herself down in the seat opposite mine. She was in her Hogwarts uniform – which I realized I should probably get in to soon, since dusk was beginning to fall outside – and she seemed not to care that her skirt was somewhat too short, exposing a significant amount of her slender legs between the hem and her knee socks.

Alice sat down beside her and Mary sat down beside me, the former beaming and the latter looking particularly fatigued.

"All right, Coraline?" Alice asked, as I stifled a huge yawn in my shoulder.

"You look terrible," Marlene said, picking absently at a perfectly manicured fingernail.

"Thank you," I said snidely. "Just tired. I've been up since dawn."

Marlene grimaced, and Alice grinned at me. "Trouble packing, again?"

"Every year," I sighed.

"You should really work on that," Marlene said, and I glared playfully at her.

"How was your guys' summer?" I asked.

This was clearly the question Marlene had been waiting for; she cut neatly across Alice, who had opened her mouth to speak, gushing; "It was lovely! We went to France to visit my Aunt and Uncle there for a month – they live in La Rochelle, so we spent a lot of time on the beach. My Aunt took my sister and me to Paris for four days and we went shopping … oh, Corrie, you should see all of the amazing new clothes I got!" She placed her hands over her heart with a wistful sigh.

Alice rolled her eyes and shook her head, and I smiled. Alice was perfectly content in a pair of baggy jeans and a sweatshirt, kind of like me. Sure, every now and then we liked to get all gussied up, but for the most part we didn't bother. But, I might put on mascara once or twice a week, and I particularly adored buying new shoes.

"I really loved it. For a whole month, it was like You-Know-Who and this war didn't exist at all ... they're so completely unconcerned about it there..." she trailed off, and I couldn't help but wonder what that might be like, to not constantly have this war niggling at the back of your mind. "And then I spent the last two weeks of summer at Alice's," she finished. Alice and Marlene were second cousins or something of the sort; it was difficult to find two pureblood families in the UK that were not related by blood or marriage. Also, their parents worked together at the Ministry, and despite their differences, they were very good friends.

"How was your summer, Cor?" she asked.

"Good. I spent a few weeks with Lily, and my grandparents came for a visit."

"Fun, fun," Marlene said, still scrutinizing her fingernail.

I nodded. "And you guys?" I glanced between Alice and Mary, who each waited for the other to begin.

"I stayed at home," Alice growled, clearly sore about it. "My mum is so paranoid that none of us are allowed to go out at all."

"Well, she has a point, I suppose …" I said. My mum was protective, but not quite so much. We weren't allowed to be outside after dark, or to go wandering alone, but we _were_ allowed to leave the house.

Alice scoffed; "Thank Merlin Marlene came and rescued me … I'd have gone bonkers otherwise."

I chuckled, and then looked to Mary for an account of her holiday. "I went to Ireland, to visit my Grandmother," said Mary.

"For the whole summer?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Well, most of it. Mum said I should get away for a bit, after…you know…"

"How was it?" I asked quickly.

Mary turned her sage-like eyes upon me, a small smile on her mouth. "It was alright. It rained a lot, and it was very beautiful, but it didn't really feel like getting away since Ireland is almost as affected as we are by You-Know-Who."

"How do you feel, anyway?"

She nodded slowly, worrying her cheek in her teeth. "Better. I'm starting to think that whatever will happen, will happen … and we can either live in fear or stand up to it. From now on, I've decided that I'm going to stand up to it."

Wow. Mary really was an astonishing person. I was very much the former; I lived in fear. As the daughter of a Muggle-born witch and a blood-traitor pureblood father, I wasn't exactly in You-Know-Who's good books. Granted, I hadn't been attacked and my family had never been threatened, but it still didn't stop me from worrying. With my father (one of the higher ups in Magical Law Enforcement, though not an Auror, and a vehement opponent of You-Know-Who's ways) so vulnerable in St. Mungo's, I kept myself prepared for news that he had suddenly and inexplicably died.

I grinned at Mary. "I'm really proud of you Mary," I said, and her eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yes, of course. After everything you went through last year, and you've come out on the other side ..." I shook my head, envying her strength.

"Thanks, Coraline," she said, beaming, and I squeezed her shoulder.

We talked of nothing in particular until Lily returned a short time later, Remus behind her. Mary turned towards the window; she and Remus had broken up last year (thinking back, Mary had certainly had a particularly terrible year...), and even though it had been a while ago now, she couldn't quite stand to look at him yet. She did not volunteer much information pertaining to their breaking up, but apparently Remus had been uncharacteristically rude when doing so.

"Hello, ladies," he said, softly, his eyes flicking to Mary briefly. Turning to Lily, he said, "I'll see you at the feast, Lily."

"See you, Remus," she said, and closed the door behind him. Looking at me, she arched a brow at me, pursing her mouth. "You should change; we'll be there soon."

"I will, I will…" I grumbled.

I probably waited until the last possible second to change; just as I finished, the train began to slow down. I pulled on my jacket, picked Lucy up off of the seat and followed Lily out of the compartment. I couldn't stop myself from grinning as we stepped onto the platform at Hogsmeade Station; there were all the familiar faces of the students I'd been going to school with for the past five years, the thunderous voice of the half-giant groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid, gathering all of the first years. I was even glad to see the eerie horse-less carriages that would take us to the castle, but nothing could compare to how I felt at the sight of the castle itself; Hogwarts gleamed against the indigo sky, never quite obscured by shadow, and my spirits soared. As nerdy as it is, I loved my school.

* * *

A/N: So, this has been edited. As has the first chapter, so … ya. I think it's better, but if you don't please let me know! R&R - pretty, pretty please! Your feedback motivates me! xo.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

We all gathered in the Great Hall, Lily on one side of me and Sirius Black on the other. Honestly, what was with all of this sitting beside _me_ today? The Sorting took place, with the Sorting Hat singing a poetic and inspirational song about unity and strength and perseverance, and Professor Dumbledore reinforcing its words with his start-of-term speech.

The feast was splendid as usual, other than the fact that Sirius was very busy making googly-eyes with a pretty fifth-year girl who giggled like an idiot every time he winked or smiled at her, which he did more than was strictly necessary. I found myself eager to leave the Great Hall much sooner than I would have normally.

I was glad to get to the Gryffindor Common Room, with the familiar scarlet and gold decorations, a roaring fire in the hearth and the scattered, well-worn furniture, but the sight of our dormitory was even more welcome. Our trunks had been brought up, and Lucy, who had escaped some time during the feast, had obviously found her way quite well without me; she was asleep at the foot of my four-poster bed.

"I'm so happy to be back," Lily said with a sigh, flopping back onto her bed.

I was already stripping off my uniform; I was so excited to go to sleep that I didn't care if it was only half-eight. I pulled on my new pajamas; bright pink flannel pants and a white T-shirt smattered with hearts. "Me too," I replied, snuggling into the covers.

Lily turned over onto her belly to face me. I smiled at her; I loved girl-talk with Lily, and the Gryffindor dormitories were like a sleep-over every night. Before Lily could open her mouth to speak, however, Alice and Marlene burst into the room, looking distraught and excited simultaneously. Mary followed at a slower pace, looking pensive.

"Did you guys hear?" Marlene asked in a rushed sort of way, and I sat up in bed attentively.

Lily and I exchanged looks, both shaking our heads. "No," she said, "hear what?"

Alice came to kneel on the foot of my bed; "You know Sirius Black's kid brother, Regulus?" she said, and we nodded. "He's a Death Eater."

My mouth fell open and Lily sat up immediately. "How do you know?" she demanded.

"I heard him talking to Avery and a couple of other Slytherins. Avery's dad's a Death Eater; I wouldn't be surprised if he was too … who else was there?" Marlene asked Alice.

"Rabastan LeStrange, I think…his brother and his wife are Death Eaters; Evan Rosier … his dad is a Death Eater; that Travers guy, that Wilkes guy, Sna - _ahem - _one or two others." I felt sure she had been about to say Snape, but seemed to remember Lily and quickly decided against it. 

"Are you sure?" I spluttered, "He's only, what, sixteen? If that?"

"I don't think You-Know-Who really cares how old he is, to be honest with you," Mary said.

"Also, Dirk Cresswell's older sister was killed two weeks ago," Alice said.

"And, Bertram Aubrey's parents went missing," Marlene added.

"And Dorcas Meadowes was attacked by Death Eaters last week; she killed two of them," Mary put in.

"Dorcas Meadowes?" I repeated, agape. Dorcas Meadowes was in the year above us, a Ravenclaw; tall, soft-spoken and extremely clever. She had helped me with Arithmancy a few times last year, and from my limited knowledge of her, she hardly seemed the type of person to kill another person, let alone two. "Is she _alive_?"

"As far as I know," Mary said. "I just heard a couple of her friends asking her brother on my way up here."

We sat together in silence. It was as if a massive storm cloud had settled overhead. This was the exact reason why I had been avoiding the _Daily Prophet._ My heart was pounding in my chest. Was Regulus Black really a Death Eater? And those other boys that had been with him, were they Death Eaters, too? Bertram's parents … poor boy … and Dirk Cresswell's sister … and Dorcas! What an amazing feat; to kill two Death Eaters and live to tell the tale. Incredible.

And even though I hadn't really taken stock of how many students were missing from the Great Hall during the feast, it was now all I could think of.

I wondered how many more of us would get news that family members had gone missing or been killed. Or how many more of us would have to defend ourselves in such a frightening manner. Or how many students would be withdrawn from Hogwarts because their parents thought it would be safer.

This year was going to be much more different than I had anticipated; this war was going to make adults of us, whether we liked it or not.

I didn't like it.

* * *

It stormed the entire weekend, which could be seen one of two ways; as shitty, since the only completely responsibility-free weekend of the school year had to be spent indoors while a thunderstorm raged and gale-force winds pummeled the castle, or as beneficial, since we could clean and organize our rooms and get prepared for the week to come.

I was of both minds. Lily and I spent Saturday morning emptying our trunks and organizing our areas of the room; text books stacked neatly in the cupboard of our nightstands, pajamas folded neatly in the drawer of the nightstands; clothes hung or folded in the wardrobes beside our beds. Our neuroticisms were one of the things that had made us friends, but I would have liked to spend some time outside.

Mary stayed in the room with us Saturday morning, but she did not clean; she read. She had acquired a rather large stack of various spellbooks; _Curses and Counter-Curses, Practical Defensive Magic and its use Against the Dark Arts, _and _Self-Defensive Spellwork, _along with the numerous Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks we had acquired over the years, were just some of the books piled into her trunk. While Lily and I organized, Mary was busy reading _The Dark Arts Outsmarted_. She read us a few particularly interesting passages, and offered to let us borrow one of the others, if we wanted. I helped myself to _Self-Defensive Spellwork_. Who knows, it might come in handy.

Marlene and Alice thought we were geeks and left to pursue more exciting activities.

On Saturday evening at dinner, we were all given an appointment time to meet with Professor McGonagall tomorrow and at one-fifteen on Sunday afternoon, I went to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kavanagh," she said, as I closed the door.

"Good afternoon, Professor." I sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"Well, Miss Kavanagh, you did extremely well on your OWLs, as I knew you would." I beamed, and Professor McGonagall crinkled her eyes at me. "Have you decided on a career path?" The last time we'd had a similar meeting, I hadn't had the faintest idea of what I wanted to be.

I shook my head. "I've narrowed it down to two, though," I said. "Either a Curse-Breaker with Gringotts or working with the Department of Mysteries."

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows, as if she, too, were surprised I hadn't decided to become a Professor. "Well, good for you, Miss Kavanagh. I see no reason why either choice should not be possible. Now, you won't be allowed to continue with Astronomy or Divination, but would you like to continue with everything else?"

"Yes, please," I said.

"Alright. You may go, Coraline. You'll get your schedule tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Professor." I left, and on my way back I encountered Remus on his way to meet with Professor McGonagall. If it had been only Remus, it wouldn't have been a problem, but as usual, Remus was accompanied by James, Sirius and Peter.

_Don't notice me, don't notice me, don't notice me – _

"Gherkin!" Sirius cried. I barely suppressed a groan, but I sighed as I straightened.

"Hey, Coraline," James said, approaching me. With a mischievous glint in his hazel eyes, he said, "You look like you're trying to avoid someone." I grinned sheepishly, blushing slightly, avoiding their eyes, and they laughed.

"Come on, Little Gherkin," Sirius said, throwing his arm over my shoulder. Flabbergasted, I quickly sidestepped before his arm could land; Sirius continued with his statement, not even phased; "We're not so bad."

"Guys," Remus said, "I've got to get to my meeting." And he took off at a brisk trot.

"We'll wait for you here, Moony!" Peter called after him.

James pushed a hand through his hair, making it look pleasantly windblown. "So, Coraline," he said, "Are you still up for helping us with Potions?"

"We wouldn't have gotten O's without you," Sirius added.

"You got O's?" I half-shrieked, incredulous, and they nodded, beaming. "Wow, good for you!" _And me! _I resisted the urge to jump up and down and clap my hands like a giddy little girl.

"So, you can still help us this year, right?" James asked, perhaps a little anxiously.

"Er...yes, sure." I tried to sound reluctant, but honestly, I couldn't resist stroking my ego with little successes such as these. I mean really, Sirius and James had barely been scraping A's before they sought my help. I was feeling a little bit conceited.

"Great! Thanks, Gherkin." _Oh, Merlin that nickname is terrible. _

"No problem," I murmured, and I made to step around them so that I might return to the Common Room. I hadn't seen Lily since she'd left for her meeting with Professor McGonagall … actually, I don't know why we hadn't gone together, seeing as our appointment times had been relatively close. No matter; I was eager to learn which subject she had chosen to drop out of; Astrology or History of Magic.

However, I was brought up short by James, who asked me, "What subjects are you taking this year?"

"Arithmancy, Potions, History of Magic, Charms, Ancient Runes, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Herbology."

Ticking them off on his fingers, Peter gaped. "That's … that's _eight subjects_!"

_Yay, you can count! _I thought maliciously, and immediately felt bad. "Yep," I replied.

"You're taking eight NEWTs?" Sirius said in a flat tone.

"Uh huh …"

"You're aware that NEWT stands for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests?" James said.

"Yes …" I said, wondering what the point of this was.

"And you're taking eight of them?" Sirius repeated.

"Yes, yes! I'm taking eight subjects!"

"You're nerdier than I thought, Gherkin."

"I am not a _nerd_," I snapped. "And stop calling me that. My name is _Coraline._"

"I know what your name is," Sirius assured me. "I just prefer Gherkin."

"Well, _I _do not."

"Oh, you love it."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him before storming away. Stupid Sirius Black with his gorgeous smile and beautiful hair and his way of calling me that stupid nickname that made me not really mind it at all. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Laughing, Sirius called after me; "See you later, Gherkin!"

* * *

The rest of Sunday came and went without mishap, other than Lily having actually decided to drop History of Magic, much to my chagrin. Honestly, I almost cried when she told me, but when we received our timetables Monday morning, I was relieved to find that Mary had History of Magic with me, so I wouldn't be alone in the class. Marlene had had much the same reaction as James and Sirius had when she saw that Lily and I were taking eight NEWTs.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed at us over her bacon.

"We're just trying to keep our options open," Lily replied calmly, spooning a bit of cottage cheese into her mouth.

"You're going to kill yourselves in the process."

First thing Monday morning, we had History of Magic. Thank Merlin it wasn't a subject that required a lot of attention; I hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep last night. The news about Dorcas, Bertram and Dirk and the group of potential Hogwarts-student Death Eaters was just the tip of the iceberg compared to the numerous other rumors that were flying around Hogwarts, and with all of this speculation and intrigue and worry, a girl's bound to have nightmares every now and then.

As I had expected, our History of Magic class had dwindled severely in numbers. Those Hufflepuffs who had elected to continue in History of Magic had joined our class, but still there were only about fifteen people. What did surprise me, though, was the presence of James and Sirius in the class. He caught me staring at him once, and waved jovially, and I felt myself heat up. He grinned. My face went aflame. _Really, Coraline, control yourself._ I hunched over my desk, diligently taking notes to distract myself.

"Coraline," Mary whispered in my ear, "Sirius Black is staring at you." And sure enough, when I looked round, he actually I raised my eyebrows at him the second time I saw him staring, he had the audacity to _wink_ at me. I rolled my eyes at him; _how dare he, honestly? – _but my insides were fluttering and I had to wrestle a smile back into an impassive line.

Needless to say, I didn't absorb much of that first History of Magic lesson. Luckily, Professor Binns didn't assign any homework. Unfortunately, he was the only Professor who neglected to do so. Double Transfiguration followed History of Magic, Professor McGonagall told us she expected us to have a particularly difficult bit of Transfiguration (turning an inanimate object into an animal and back) mastered by our next class on Wednesday, as well as twelve inches of parchment written on the theory and practical uses of the charm.

After lunch, Lily and I had Ancient Runes. We had been required to purchase a very large workbook as well as our new textbook for Ancient Runes, and Professor Borsa demanded that the entire first chapter (roughly one hundred and fifty complex translations) be finished for our class on Friday.

Double Herbology finished the day, and the class consisted of me very nearly killing a juvenile Devil's Snare attempting to escape as it wrapped itself around my wrists, effectively handcuffing me. I managed to feed and repot the damn thing, but upon seeing the sorry state I left the poor little Devil's Snare, Professor Adiantum demanded that I nurse the plant back to health, on top of completing the twelve inches of parchment he assigned on the medicinal properties of the Devil's Snare's sebum for Wednesday. He didn't seem to care that the slender little vines had rubbed my wrists so raw they almost bled.

Lily offered to carry my bag while I ported the Devil's Snare back to our dormitory at arm's length, frowning at it the entire time. She did not rub it in my face that all I'd needed to do was stop my struggling and the plant would have released me. I appreciated her sensitivity.

Resentfully, I stowed the Devil's Snare in the drawer of my nightstand, and gave Lucy a firm lecture to avoid it; I didn't know if it could escape, and I certainly didn't want it strangling my cat if it could. Lucy eyed me lazily from where she lay, tail switching, on my pillows. She could not have made it plainer that she did not care one scrap for anything I said, whether it was in her best interest or not.

Lily and I ate dinner slowly; I was so tired after our first day of classes that I didn't feel all that hungry. I pushed my mashed potatoes around on my golden plate until Lily suggested we go to the library. "I have no idea how to take care of a Devil's Snare," I pouted, resting my chin on the stack of books we had accumulated and giving Lily my saddest eyes.

Thankfully, by the end of the evening, with Alice's help (she was an adept at Herbology), we knew everything there was to know about Devil's Snare, had finished our essays and I had taken notes on how to prepare a nourishing potion to revive the little plant in my bed side table.

I fell asleep on top of my Ancient Runes workbook, praying that tomorrow would be easier.

It was not.

* * *

A/N : THANK YOU TO **ISLINGTONANGEL**, MY FIRST REVIEWER! Yay! I'm really glad you like it so far. If there's anything you think I ought to change, please let me know! I wouldn't want to let you down. ^_^

Anyway, I hope all of you who AREN'T reviewing are enjoying this story nonetheless. Review! Thanks for reading!

xx.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four 

My prayers clearly went unanswered; the week only became more difficult as it went on. Even during my OWL year, I had not been assigned, nor completed so much homework as I had this week. By the end of that first week, I had written a foot-long essay for every single class, completed unit one in both the Ancient Runes and Arithmancy work books, restored a juvenile Devil's Snare back to full health, learned two complex transfigurations, three new charms, two new potions (three if you included the plant-food), planted a multitude of magical plants that we would be required to tend to throughout the year and completed an introductory exam for Defense Against the Dark Arts to refresh what we'd learned the past five years. This test consumed the entirety of our first Defense Against the Dark Arts (double) period. I had a sneaking suspicion that our new teacher, Professor Elian, was not one to go easy on students simply because she was new.

The light of my entire week was Thursday, the day I had been granted Double Potions and Double Arithmancy. Thank you, Minerva McGonagall. You must really love me.

The only down side to Potions was that Professor Slughorn had decided to set a seating plan, and I had been seated with Sirius, Peter and Mary. Once again, Mary was there to rescue me. I would have to thank her later. Poor Lily was seated with James, Remus and Marlene. Worse yet, Alice was forced to sit with Severus Snape, a Slytherin girl named Renevie Sylfaen and an extremely sweet, but rather dense Hufflepuff girl named Tabitha Stewart. At least none of us were forced to be seated with one of the dreaded ABC. I could hear them giggling and whispering throughout the lesson. It was quite distracting, and more than a little annoying. I was still sore about the fact that they had somehow scraped their way into this class; I had so been looking forward to leaving them behind.

On second thought, I would almost prefer sitting with the simpering ABC to sitting with Sirius; my traitorous little heart thudded madly every time he smiled my way or spoke to me, and I couldn't help but hate him a little more every time he did so, completely oblivious to the effect he had on me. Honestly, open your eyes! But really, I couldn't blame him; the _nerve_ of my wily feminine hormones. They were certainly working overtime this week. Damn them!

By the time the weekend came around, I would have been content to simply hibernate in my bed the entire time. Trust me, I put up a good fight when Lily was attempting to drag me out of bed; but eventually, she won out by bribing me with a gift her parents had forgotten to give me for my sixteenth birthday. It was a hooded jumper in a beautiful royal purple that looked really good on me, actually. I pulled on a pair of jeans and my favorite black knee-high boots, and went out on a limb and left my hair down.

"You should really leave your hair down more, Coraline," Lily said, twirling one of my curls around her finger. "It looks really gorgeous."

"Thanks, Lily," I said. "It's just such a hassle." In fact, it was annoying me already; it kept slipping over my shoulder into my plate, and I hated nothing more than having hair in my mouth. Even the thought of it made me gag. When I couldn't stand it any longer, I tucked my hair into the neckline of my jumper so that I might eat in peace.

Over the course of breakfast in the Great Hall, my hair became extremely staticky, and I was forced to throw it up into a ponytail lest I risk madness. Marlene let me borrow her catalogue for Madame Primpernelle's.

Lily brought along the catalogue when we went outside and we sat down beside the lake to peruse it. It was still fairly early in the day, around ten or so if I had to guess, and most people would have left their homework alone last night. Lily and I were not those people; we had put our noses to the grindstone last night and finished the majority of our assignments. Saturday and Sunday were virtually free and clear. Because of this, and the fact that there was a bit of cloud cover and a slight chill, there was only a smattering of people out on the grounds.

Shortly after Lily and I had seated ourselves by the lake, the Marauders were among them. And, they were heading straight for us. Lily groaned, and in spite of myself, I could feel myself heating up as Sirius swaggered towards me, grinning. I suppressed a groan and concentrated hard on a girly-looking makeup bag, complete with makeup brushes! - or so the catalogue told me.

"Evans," James said shortly.

"Potter."

"Hey, Corrie," he said, his icy demeanor melting away as he looked at me. I glanced between him and Lily briefly; her eyebrows were ached rather more than usual, her mouth pursed as she deliberately scanned the pages of Madame Primpernelle's catalogue; he was pointedly avoiding looking at her by staring at me. It was a little unnerving how hard he was concentrating.

"Hello, James," I said, slightly nervous that the tension between them would suffocate me.

"Have you done the essay for Potions already?"

"Yes, why?"

"Could you help us with it later?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, um –" I hesitated.

"Oh, please-y please?" Sirius whined.

"Just minor editing," James added.

I rolled my eyes. "And by minor editing, do you mean you'd like me to do it for you?"

Sirius shrugged. "That'd be nice …"

James struck him in the chest, looking horrified. "Absolutely not," he assured me emphatically; "we won't learn anything that way." He stopped short of repeating my own words back to me in a high-pitched voice; I was surprised.

"I'm not going to help you if you're going to mock me," I snapped.

"Oh, come on, Gherkin," Sirius crooned, "we've got about eight inches, but have no idea what to say to fill up the rest."

I glared up at him. There it was. That stupid nickname again. _Come on, Coraline, be strong_. "No, I won't do it."

James's face fell; Sirius looked absolutely distraught. "What?" he spluttered, taken aback by the fact I'd refused him. He obviously wasn't used to it. "Why?"

"Er ..." I was drawing a blank. O_h no, you can't say no and then not have a reason! Why are you saying no, Coraline?! Think, girl, think! _"I won't help you unless you call me by my real name." Whew. That was close. I almost embarassed myself there. Silence, in which Sirius frowned, opening his mouth and then closing it again. "You do know it, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" he snapped. "Coraline," he grumbled.

"Yes?" Oh, I really was enjoying teasing him.

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to prevent a taunting, Cheshire cat grin taking over my face. "Will you please help us, Coraline?" he asked, his sweet tone contrasting sharply with the ferocious glare he was giving me.

"I'd _love_ to."

"Great!" James said, mollified, but looking a little discomfited. "Common Room, eight o'clock?"

"Sure, whatever."

"Thanks, Coraline," they turned to leave. I angled my head down towards the catalogue, but covertly watched Sirius through my eyelashes. He did not leave with James, but was looking down at me, frowning slightly. I looked back up, expecting him to say something, but he did not. He merely flashed his devastating grin, shrugged and trotted away after his friends.

"That was fun," Lily commented, and I had to agree; it really was. I could almost feel my backbone becoming firmer. Hooray for realizing resolutions!

* * *

When it began to rain at about one, Lily and I went inside. Before starting on the last of our homework, I wrote my mom and asked her permission to order Madame Primpernelle's Magic Curls shampoo and conditioner. I really did like my hair, and if this Magic Curls stuff did what it promised, I'd be able to wear it down more often without transforming into a complete frizzball. I was sure to inform her of Marlene's account with Madame Primpernelle's; fifteen percent off!

I went directly up to the owlery with my finished letter, but stopped dead in my tracks outside of the door when I heard raised voices. I shouldn't have eavesdropped. Eavesdropping is bad, but I recognized Sirius's voice immediately and I just couldn't help myself. I'm weak!

" … wrong, Reg." Reg? As in Regulus, Sirius's kid brother?

"I'm not the one on the wrong side, Sirius, _you_ are! Everyone who opposes the Dark Lord will be mowed down."

"I might be killed, but I'll die knowing I fought for what's right!"

Regulus spluttered. "What's _right_, Sirius? What's right is upholding the family honor! What's right is maintaining the purity of magic!"

"You know your precious Lord Voldemort (I recoiled internally at the name) is a Mudblood, right Regulus? A little hypocritical of him, isn't it?"

"Don't you dare utter the Dark Lord's name, you filthy blood traitor!" I stifled a gasp. What a terrible thing to say! Regulus was not the nicest of blokes, but to say that to your own brother? That was a little cruel, even by his standards. "Mother was right about you," Regulus mumbled.

"What did you just say?" Sirius growled. His tone was so dark, so dangerous that a frisson of cold wound its way up my spine, and I hugged myself against the chill.

"I _said_, Mother was right about you. You're a disgrace to the Black family name. She singed you off the tapestry, you know, when you ran away with your _boyfriend_ Potter. (I wondered briefly at this; was Sirius living with James?) You're weak. You're a coward. You'll never have what it takes to seek power. You're - "

There was a scuffle, and a loud thud. Then Sirius was growling again. "_I'm_ weak? _I'm_ a coward? What about _you_, Reg? You go blindly where Mother tells you. You're not brave, you're brainwashed. You're nothing but a pawn, to Mother, to Voldemort (again with the internal cowering. Really Sirius, stop saying the name!) … to everyone who discovers how easy it is to manipulate you just like a little marionette."

"Gerroffme!" Regulus gurgled feebly. Another loud thud. Shuffling feet. Horrified, I realized one of them was making for the door. I glanced to my left, to my right, and then behind me. Frantically, I sprinted back down the stairs, took a few deep breaths to steady myself and then made my way slowly back up to the owlery to make it look as though I hadn't been standing on the landing the whole time. Regulus pushed past me roughly on the stairs, angry red marks that looked suspiciously like fingers marring the pale skin of his throat.

I entered the owlery; my racing heart was going to give me away. Sirius stood near the large bay window, looking out into the rain. "Hello Sirius," I said, affecting a light tone. Dear Cliodna that was pathetic. He was never going to believe I hadn't just heard their entire conversation because I had basically had my ear pressed to the door. _Dammit, Coraline! _

He turned. His gorgeous eyes were dark, angry; his smooth brow furrowed deeply; his full mouth drawn into a tight white line. He quickly attempted to compose his features, offering an extremely strained smile. "'Lo, Gherkin. Sorry ... _Coraline_." His sneering tone made me flinch.

"Are you alright?" I asked gently. What kind of a person would I be if I didn't ask? "Is it Regulus?" I mentally kicked myself. _Smooth, Coraline_. His eyes darkened again, his head cocking slightly to the side like a curious dog. "I saw him on the stairs … he looked upset." _Lame. _

Sirius lifted his chin slightly, regarding me shrewdly. "Were you listening outside the door?"

I cleared my throat. "No?" He narrowed his eyes at me, demanding the truth with his smoldering gaze. "I'm sorry, Sirius! I didn't mean to."

"Just don't tell anyone please." His voice sounded somewhat desolate, and it made my heart ache. I was so used to seeing him arrogant and outgoing and buoyant, that it was more than a little unsettling to see that he actually had a complete range of emotions.

"Of course not," I said, shaking my head vehemently. He turned back to the window, and I approached him cautiously, urging myself on. I desperately wanted to comfort him, but because stupid little crush on him, I was kind of afraid of him, at the same time. Ridiculous, right? "Do you want to talk about it?" I was within arm's length of him now. All I had to do was reach out and I could touch him. I resisted the temptation.

He shrugged. I was slightly disappointed, and I stood rooted to the spot for a moment, studying the dropping-strewn floor. Just as I turned away to summon an owl down from the rafters, Sirius said, "I'm sure you've heard the rumor that's going around? That my brother's a Death Eater?" I folded my lips in, and nodded once. "Well, it's not quite true."

"Oh, thank Merlin," I burst out. "I knew he was too young …"

He regarded me levelly. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he did not smile. "He'll be joining their ranks when he turns sixteen."

My mouth fell open and my eyebrows shot up towards my hairline. "_Sixteen_?" I breathed incredulously. "He's being allowed to join at _sixteen?_" Sirius nodded grimly. "How can they … how can he … what about your _parents_?"

Sirius laughed; a harsh, mirthless bark. "I'm sure my parents couldn't be happier. They're blinded by their maniacal pure-blood hysteria; they're all for what Voldemort _(wince)_ is doing. They're probably doing the dance of joy that at least one of their sons turned out right."

_That son is you_, I thought. And apparently said out loud because Sirius looked surprised, raising his eyebrows. "Thanks, Gher - Coraline," he said. I couldn't tell if he was earnest or teasing. And then, without warning, he reached across the space between us. I flinched involuntarily - what had I thought he was going to do, strike me? - but he simply took a bit of my ponytail in his fingers, twirling my curls. My scalp immediately began to tingle and I suppressed a shiver - I love it when anyone plays with my hair, but _Sirius Black_? There was certainly something special about that ...

"You have beautiful hair, Coraline." And then just as abruptly as he had touched my hair, he swept out of the owlery, leaving me standing there, alone and perturbed. I slowly released the breath I'd been holding. Had that really just happened? Had Sirius Black just touched me, _and_ complimented me, all in one day? Impossible. I pinched myself, and upon wincing, realized that I had not, in fact, dreamed the event. Frowning, I made my way back to Gryffindor tower. I would realize later that I had forgotten to send my letter.

* * *

A/N : Kind of a lame chapter, sorry guys! I was so excited to see that my review count went up by six in one day that I wanted to get a chapter up for your guys right away! I promise the next one will be better.

**Aries Eireann: **Thank you! I'm so glad you like it. Well, there's the eight girls (Lily, Mary, Marlene, Alice, Coraline and the ABC), and the four Marauders. So … twelve. I hope you like this chapter! If you don't let me know, and I'll work on it. xo!

**Sun-Kissed Demigod: **Thank you! I'm glad you like the story and my characters! Hope this doesn't disappoint!

**Islington Angel: **I gave her a different outfit in this chapter … she'll only be able to wear nice clothes on weekends, since they have to wear their uniforms during the week. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter!

**Joelle8: **Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter!

Again, I promise the next one will be better guys! xoxo.


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